Automail and Alchemy
by steven watemaker
Summary: When Ed and Al discover Winry's secret, all hell breaks loose. What implications does this have on Ed and Winry's relationship? EdXWin... Pls. R
1. Chapter 1

Automail and Alchemy

Notes: This takes place in the middle of the FMA storyline, and may contain some errors. Please feel free to point them out. Also, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, I'm just a fan.

Automail and Alchemy by Steven watemaker

Chapter 1: That stormy night

It was a dark and stormy night. The Rockbell house was silent. Pinako Rockbell was out of town attending an automail expo down south, leaving her grand daughter Winry in charge of the automail shop. Winry was inher syudy, a lone lightbulb turned on, pouring on the finishing touches on an automail arm she was working on for a client. She picked up a screw on the desk and cross-referenced it with her blueprints. She soonafter scratched her head and exclaimed:

"This screw is the wrong shape!" She turned the said screw this way and that, studying it.

"The parts shop wouldn't be open until noon and I promised the arm will be ready tomorrow morning!"

Winry spun around in her swivel chair, a habit that helps her think, and put her finger under her chin.

Thunder roared.

Suddenly, as soon as lightning flashed, thoughts of Edward seemed to flood her head. She thought of what that alchemist was up to, and how he and Alphonse were. That's when a flash of inspiration struck.

She entered her room, and knelt before a set of drawers. She extracted the bottom-most drawer and took out a black box. She opened the said box and retrieved a large, leather-bound book inside.

Winry flipped throughthe pages of the book, and took a small whiff from a page. Immediately, she was reminded of Edward and all the things they did during their childhood. But more importantly, she was reminded on how this book came to her possesion.

It was ten years ago.Ed was five back then, but already a budding alchemist. He and Alphonse went to the Rockbell house to play, but soon they became bored with the usual games they played, and decided to do something else. Edward flipped open a leather-bound book, drew a circle in the ground, and put his hands on the edges of the circle wile alphonse dumped some leaves into the center.

Sparks flew, and the leaves turned into a bouquet of flowers, which Ed instantly gave to Winry. Winry smiled and took the bouquet, giving Ed a big hug. Al simply sniggered at Ed. But not long after, Trisha Elric opened the door and summoned the boys back home. Ed and Al said goodbye, but mysteriously left the book behind.

Just as mysteriously as the boys leaving the book were the circumstances when the Rockbells tried to return the tome. They always failed to do so somehow. Sometimes they forgot, one time the Elric house burned to the ground due to the actions of the brothers, and other times, it seemed too inappropriate.

The Elrics did not ask for their book back.

Somehow Winry got the idea that fate didn't want the book returned, so it stayed in the Rockbell residence for ten long years.

The pages discussed equivalent exchange, transmutation circles, alchemic reactions... Things that long ago seemed alien. But the book changed everything. It introduced her to the great art. It introduced her second gift. It introduced her to Ed and Al's world. It introduced her to the world of alchemy.

She walked back to her study and sat back down on her swivel chair. She opened the book and studied three pages concerning alchemic reactions of metals. She then extracted a piece of chalk from her pocket and drew a circle inside the table. She added a few triangles to the said circle and placed the screw on the center. She then flanked the transmutation circle with both hands and concentrated.

Yellow sparks flew and the screw changed into the perfect shape. It now fit inside the automail arm.

She managed to keep her alchemy a secret; even from Pinako. Little did she know that that her secret was to be revealed by the most unexpected people.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. And as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

"Who on earth will come in this weather?" Winry asked.

She opened the door, and saw Edward and Alphonse Elric. Alphonse in his behemoth of an armor, and Edward, still short, his mangled Automail arm dangling in his shoulder.

Well, what do you think of the first chapter. Please review to let me know how you feel, and also to speed up the making of chapter 2! 


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the long delay... I just didn't have the time to write... So now I commit myself to finish this chapter!

Winry felt somewhat torn between two emotions: happiness and anger. Happiness because there he was standing right in front of him with an uneasy smile on his face and water dripping down his mangled automail arm. Anger because of that same arm, which she has tirelessly worked on a few months ago, is now just a piece of useless scrap.

Thunder roared. "Come in" she said.

Edward took one step into the house; his boots muddied the otherwise clean wooden floor. He took a few more steps and asked "So, how are you today, Winry?"

"I'm fine." She replied as Alphonse came inside and closed the door. "I am a bit worried about you two. You have been through some dangerous stuff to come here without an arm. It's a miracle your leg survived."

"Well, it's no problem at all. I'm here to protect brother" said Alphonse.

"Even so..." Winry looked Away. She seemed to be thinking deeply.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Edward. Winry looked up and gazed at his eyes. They were golden, deep, arresting, but also innocent. How could someone with such eyes survive what danger awaits them in the quest for the Philosopher's Stone, a substance rumored to kill anyone who comes near it?

"Nothing's wrong" said Winry. "Now, should we start work on that arm?" She examined it closely. The mechanism for movement was severely damaged, and only a few screws were holding it in place to his shoulder. Some wires have been tangled and severed, and a lot of necessary gears were missing. She studied it further: looking at every angle, trying to see what could have damaged this arm so badly. Finally, she sighed. "This needs to be replaced"

"So... How long is it going to take?" Edward asked.

"I can remove it right now, but for work to start, we'll have to wait for the storm to pass. Grandma wouldn't be back in a week, so that would mean... around five days"

"Five days? But we're so close to getting the Philosopher's Stone! You expect me to wait that long?" Edward bellowed.

"It's okay brother... We can wait that long... besides, we can't travel east with you in that condition" Alphonse interjected.

Winry chuckled. She missed Edward's choleric temper. It's one of those moments where he still seemed like a child. Well, he was still a young man, but as a state alchemist, he has matured, and this was something she had not been accustomed to seeing.

"Well, shall we start?" asked Winry, holding up a screwdriver. Edward nodded. He lay there on the examination table as she turned the implement she held counter-clockwise, removing the screws that held the arm in place. She smiled as she did this, as she knew she was going to create something again, for him...

The procedure was completed, and Edward was given a temporary arm. And they set off to bed.

But for Winry, whenever automail was involved, she couldn't sleep. And so she took the damaged arm and began to look at it in more detail. Something about it mystified her. Little did she know that Ed was having a hard time sleeping as well...

"This kind of damage..." she said to herself. "Could this be a product of a partial transmutation?" She laughed at herself. She sounded like Ed talking about alchemy. But then again she failed to resist the temptation to study it further. So much so that she can make an automail that would be virtually indestructible.

She drew a circle on the floor, and dropped the scrap metal into the center. Placing her hands at two sides of the circle, she concentrated.

And yellow sparks flew.

"Winry? What's going on here? I can't sleep and I—" Ed opened his eyes as he rubbed them. Winry was on her hands and knees, beside a circle. A circle in which the things inside began to glow, and which sparks were flying...

Ed rubbed his eyes again. This was no dream. Winry was performing alchemy right before his very eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: This is part of my update-all-polychap-fics-for-first-fanfic-anniversary project... As you can see, I rushed this to meet the deadline...

Chapter 3: Denial

Edward Elric stared at the spectacle before him: Yellow sparks flew, a glowing mass of something that looked like automail stood inside a circle. And flanking that circle on either side or hands: the hands of Winry Rockbell.

Winry removed her hands from the transmutaion circle. She looked into Ed's eyes which were full of disbelief.

"W-when did you?" Edward stuttered. His heart was racing, searching for an answer. "W-when did you learn alchemy?" He managed to blurt out.

Winry hung her head. She felt a weird combination of excitement, happiness, shame, sadness and anger. She didn't know when to start explaining. "I-" But she couldnt say a word.

"How could you?" Ed inched closer. Alphonse tried to stop Ed but felt it was inappropriate. He knew Edward was furious right now... He didn't want to interfere when his brother is like this.

"ANSWER ME!" Edward shouted. Winry looked at the wood floor. Chalk marks were visible in the corner of her eye. Her head felt light, as her mind buzzed around her skull trying to find an answer...

"Edward. I'm sorry!" Tears flowed down Winry's cheeks. "I'm sorry that I never told you about me being an alchemist." She looked up. Edward's face did not change its countenance, and its features conveyed a mix of anger and denial. "You left an alchemy book here when we were young. I tried to return it, but I never found myself in a situation that gave me a chance to give it back to you." More tears flowed down.

"Winry." Ed managed to say. That was the last sound to be heard as silence enveloped the room. Winry was repenting... Alphonse was hesitating... Edward was weighing. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. "How much do you know abput alchemy so far?" Edward's voice was serious. It had no emotion in it: no anger, no sadness, no love.

"Only a little." Winry managed to reply in between her sobs. "Equivalent exchange, transmutation, that sort of thing..."

"Brother..." Alphonse went in. He can feel his brother's emotion change. "Al. take a look at Winry's transmutation circle. What does it resemble?" Ed asked.

Al looked at the transmutation circle below him. What he saw would have made his eyes widen, if he had eyes, that is.

"The Grand Archanum transmutaion circle!" Alphonse blurted out. It was unbelievable. Something that powertful drawn by someone by Winry? Alphonse knew that it must be some sort of sick joke. He and Ed had been searching for the secrets of the philosopher's stone, and here it is, right under their feet back in risenbool? Impossible!

"I'll ask you again Winry, How much do you know?"

Winry put her hands on either side of her face. "I DON'T KNOW, OKAY? I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS GRAND ARCHANUM YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. ALL I KNOW IS BASIC ALCHEMY!" She shouted and started to cry harder.

"Brother, maybe it's just coincidence." Alphonse said.

"It's not Al. Take a good look at it. All we need is a couple of humans inside that circle and you can create a red stone if not a philosopher's stone."

"Winry. It's all right." Ed knelt beside her and took her into his arms. "Winry, have you seen the gate?"

"Gate? What gate?" The gateway to the other side... have you seen it? It's the big golden one with a large eye in the middle."

"I-- haven't seen it." said Winry.

"That would make sense. You would have to commit a taboo to get to the gate."

"But brother, how would Winry know about the circle?"Alphonse asked.

Ed racked his brain for an answer. "Winry, does anyone else know about your alchemy?"

Winry thought again. "No one. Not even Grandma."

"You sure?"

"Well, there was once this customer who saw me doing alchemy. He said he was an alchemist, too, and he could do all sorts of stuff."

"And?"

"He told me about the most powerful transmutation circle." She pointed to the circle in the ground. "that one."

"What did he tell you about it?"

"Nothing much... He just said that it can fulfill anyone's wishes..."

"Brother, does that mean?"

"Yeah Al. It's them..."

Winry looked at Edaward with concern. "Them?"

"Them." Edward replied. "Only they can speak about the philosopher's stone with so much respect and adoration compared to other people. They are things that are after us."

"Things?" Winry was confused. She didn't know why Edward was reffering to people as things. "Who are these people?"

"These are the people who are not people. They are the homunculi."

So, what do you think? Was it a nice chapter? please review! 


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey brother"

"What is it Al?"

"Why do you think Winry's oracticing alchemy"

"What do you mean, Al? She's an alchemist! It's only natural for her to practice alchemy."

"What I mean is..." Alphonse hesitated for a while, fearing that Winry in the other room was awake and listening. He whispered to his elder brother: "Winry's parents were killed by Colonel Mustang, remember?"

Edward thought for a while. His thoughts were ragged by the rain. He knew too well that she knew that an alchemist killed her parents, but would that stop her from practicing alchemy? His heart pounded for some reason. Alas, even his brilliant mind cannot comprehend this conundrum.

Thunder roared, and distracted ed from his train of thought. So much philosophizing gave him a headache.

"I don't know Al..." Ed slumped in his bed. "I just don't know"

Al was silent. But Ed knew that he was thinking something.

"You think too much Al" Ed yawned. "Good night."

"I'm just worried about her. Well, good night... brother"

Morning came like a promise. The storm had passed, and the morning sun was brightly shining through the windows. Ed woke up to find Winry cleaning the transmutation circle she made last night with a wet rag.

"Let me do it for you" Ed's then wooden hand felt awkward against Winry's flesh. It startled her a bit, but she forgot about it when she looked at Edward's golden eyes. She smiled, and stood up.

"Thanks. I still need to deliver this arm to my customer in town. I'll work on your arm when I get back." Winry said.

"Sure." Ed didn't look at her; he was more concerned at cleaning the floor.

The moment winry stepped outside, she sighed. Even when the morning sun was warming her body, her heart felt awfully cold. As she walked, heavy thoughts occupied her mind. Somehow, she was concerned for Ed and Al, going on their dangerous missions in search of the philosopher's stone alone, just the two of them. She wondered if she can make a difference. She wondered if she could help...

She wondered... if she could recreate Ed's arm... Not in automail...But in flesh.. Not with ordinary means, but with a means that she and Edward both know and can use... With Alchemy.

The thought spurred her... It made her mind whirr even faster... She started trying to figuring out how to do it.. Remembering all she read from the alchemy tome, she started running excitedly. Delivering her packeage without delay, she began to sprint to her house. "yes... it's possible... I can give him an arm... a leg of flesh!" She thought.

For the first time in her life, She didn't think like an automail mechanic at all. The whirring, squeaking, gyrating of gears and bearings were nothing to her... It ws all new... It was all so simple! She can theoretically make Ed whole again... She would help them achieve their goal, and possibly, make them stay permanently in Risembool sooner.

XXX

Unbeknownst to her, two beings were observing her.

"So it seems blondie over here is falling neatly in our trap" said one of them, dressed in black, arrogantly smiling.

"Don't be too excited. We still have to find out if the Elric idiot would be able to do it." said his companion, who was similarly dressed as him.

"Don't be silly. With hormones flying around like that, the philosopher's stone's as good as ours! Silly humans..."

The female homunculus looked at her colleague.

"What're you staring at?" Envy asked.

"Nothing... I just found something very iornic, that's all" Lust continued to look at the ground below her.

"Geez. I never really understand you, you know?"

"You should get back to surveillance, Envy."

"Can't someone have fun around here?" Envy grumbled and transformed. "It's time to pay the Rockbells a visit."

XXX

"Hey Al" Winry said from the threshold of a back room. Al turned to winry.

"What?"

"I need a favor to ask of you."

"Oh. Okay." Al stood up and followed Winry to the back door. Winry was on the floor with the alchemy book in her hand and a chalk in the other. She was drawing another transmutation circle on the floor.

"How do you transmute orgamic matter?"

"Pardon?" Al said. "Why don't you ask Ed? HE's the state alchemist here."

"Why don't you want to tell me? IS there some sort of conspiracy between you alchemists?" Winry said teasingly...

"Well, that's not it.. It's actually very complicated you see..." Alphonse was waving his palm as if telling Winry to calm down.

"Oh... I see now. ALPHONSE ELRIC, IF YOU DON'T TELL ME RIGHT NOW I SWEAR I'M GONNA..."

"Oy! What's the ruckus about?" Ed was at the door.

"Err... I guess I'll just...leave you two alone." Alphonse excused himself and went out.

"Winry... what are you doing now?" Edward asked.

"Well... you see..." Winry's mind raced to find an excuse.

"Winry? Winry?" Ed's words didn't reach Winry, who was frantic in thought.

"WINRY?"

"WHAT?!" Winry shouted. Then she turned beet red and apologized for raising her voice.

"Is that pork in that transmutation circle?" Ed asked, pointing to the middle of the circle. There was, indeed a rather large pile of pinkinsh meat on the floor.

"Oh... That? Well, you see, pork contains the almost the same proteins and fats found in human flesh so I figured it'd be a clever substi-" She closed her mouth with her hands.

"Oops."

Ed gave her a calculating, probing look.

"N-no Ed! It's not what you think!" She started flailing her arms up and down, to no avail.

"Winry, what are you up to?"

Winry conceded. She knew nothing could escape Ed. She sighed, looked at the ground, and began stringing the words necessary for an explanation. She was bowing in defeat; after all, she wanted it to be a surprise.

"I wanted to make you an arm and leg of flesh instead of one in automail. I know it sounds weird for me to replace my cherished automail with living tissue, but..." Her sentence was cut off by Ed's finger.

"I can't let you do that."

"How come?"

"I can't let you face the dangers of this sort of stuff. I know you're an alchemist and--" Ed tried to talk sense to her.

"But--" She began. But Ed finished her sentence first.

"But you are my mechanic. Your purpose is to fix me when I am broken. Do you understand? Besides, I would have done that a long time ago, if I had just got the Philosopher's Stone."

The Philosopher's Stone... That elusive object that seemingly made everything possible.

Tears began to flow down Winry's face. "I want to cater to your living parts, Ed!" She sobbed.

"Please Winry... don't cry"

Winry was silent. For a brief period of time, Edward Elric, the normally calculating, analytical, though somewhat short fullmetal alchemist, lost sight of reason. He wrapped his arms against the crying lady, and pressed his lips against hers.

They kissed. To Winry, it felt like it lasted forever.

The homunculus that was silently watching them was amused. "I didn't see that coming." Her purple lips curled to a smile.

"My..my... What have we here?" said a voice. Winry and Edward broke apart from each other and looked at who was at the door: Pinako Rockbell. 


End file.
